Blogger 365 Day 47 - Open letter to the weather channel

I believe it was a couple of days ago I had mentioned that i was scheduled to be off on Sunday, and because I was to be off, you could expect that it would be snowing.  Not sure how many of the locals took me up on my advice, I know the Weather Channel didn't, saying at best we were to expect scattered snow flurries and showers.

It turns out that I didn't have today off after all, I had to run into Gus Millers for an hour or so.  Kerry, who manages the store on Sunday, called me to cover for him because he had to go pick up a prescription of some sort and since I live a few blocks from the store, he asked if I would come in for a little bit.  I hadn't planned on it, but since I did have a book of lottery tickets that needed loaded into the machine (I brought them home with me Saturday night) I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone, and then run my errands for the day.  My plans included running over to The Waterfront to buy groceries and maybe spend some of that Barnes and Noble gift card cash that I still had in my wallet.   So I climb out of my fuzzy pajama pants and throw on some jeans and a T shirt, grab my back pack with the lottery tickets in it, as well as my book for the bus ride when I was done, and head to the front door.  I opened it and lo and behold it was snowing again.  And it didn't just snow for a little bit, it snowed all fucking day.  We ended up getting another 2 inches of snow today, falling consistently enough that the city roads were a mess the entire time.  So today my blog is going to in the form of a complaint......

Dear Employees of the Weather Channel,

      I understand that, at times, the weather can be an unpredictable phenomenon but it would be greatly appreciated if you would spend your time and resources on getting your forecasts as accurate as possible, and less time on thinking up clever names for any change in the existing weather pattern.  As a general rule, people turning to you for information do not need to know that the most recent weather event has been named Steve, what they need to know is an accurate telling of what will happen and how best to prepare for it.  Stop treating the weather like it is an ongoing scripted drama on TV (What will Steve do today?) and just focus on the facts.  If an event is significant enough, trust me, the audience will remember it without you calling it a name.  The name may not be as creative as you would come up with (blizzard of '02 for instance) but it will be remembered all the same, and will linger in minds long after your stupid name calling has been forgotten.  There was a time when names were given to truly significant events, like Hurricane Katrina, every time you slap a name on any weather movement you do it not out of a need to inform, but rather to simply spread fear.  Naming every single weather event also brings to mind the story of the boy who cried wolf, name everything and then nothing must be that important.  After all, why should a viewer take you that seriously when something severe is about to occur when you treat the slightest amount of precipitation with the same significance.  If you want to provide a public service, then spend more time looking at forecasts and satellite pictures and less time with your face buried in a book of baby names.   If not, then just have the Kardashians do the weather reports and be done with it.

Sincerely,
Matt